A Concise History of the Corner Brook Mi'kmaq Band Council

By: Marie Mitchell Sparkes

The Corner Brook Mi'Kmaq Band Council was the first council formed in the west coast area. The first organizational meeting which I attended was held at the Hotel Corner Brook in the early 1970's. A small group of interested persons of Mi'kmaq ancestry has gathered together to plan a strategy that would one day, hopefully move us closer to reaching our goal which was to gain our status as registered Mi'kmaq persons with the department of Indian and Northern Affairs.

During that meeting an Ad Hoc committee was formed and Jack Mitchell was selected to preside over the group.

At that meeting we were introduced to the special speaker for the evening, Mr. Jerry Wetzel who was living in Conne River at the time but was originally from the United States. He informed the group that the main reason for his visit to the area was to gather together persons of Mi'kmaq ancestry and that eventually we would join together with the people of Conne River and apply to the department of Indian Affairs for our status as registered Indians.

Eventually, several persons from the Benoit's Cove area who were of Mi'kmaq ancestry were also included in the Corner brook Band. By 1974, our band joined with the Conne River group and a group from Labrador and were known as the Native Association of Newfoundland and Labrador also known as N.A.N.L.

A copy of the N.A.N.L. news dated May 17, 1975 carried a report from the Corner Brook Band Council dated April 20, 1975 which stated that our annual meeting was held at the Holiday Inn here in Corner Brook and that our guest speaker for the evening had been Mr. Bart Jack who was the president of the Native Association of Newfoundland and Labrador. An election was held that evening and Mr. Jack Mitchell was elected President and myself (Marie Mitchell) was elected Vice-President.

Eventually the Labrador contingent withdrew from the N.A.N.L. and went their separate way.

Another report from the newspaper (the Caribou) printed in St. George's dated June 30, 1982. stated that at a meeting of the Corner Brook Indian Band Council, a motion was passed to change the name of the band to the Bay of Islands Indian Regional Band Council. An election was held at that meeting and Mr. Gerard Webb was elected in as the President. From 1982 onward, the band decided that elections would be held every two years instead of every one.

Eventually the Bay of Islands Indian Regional Band was dissolved and the Corner Brook Band and the Benoits Cove Band operated independently.

By 1984 the Conne River Band received their status from the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs which left the rest of the bands on the island having to deal with Indian Affairs from a new vantage point.